DVDActive uses cookies to remember your actions, such as your answer in the poll. Cookies are
also used by third-parties for statistics, social media and advertising. By using this website, it is
assumed that you agree to this.

Marcus celebrates the tenth birthday of Episode I in this new DVDActive article...

THE TEN

THE TEN

THE TEN

can be anything. It can be the best or worst of movies, it can be moments that make a movie memorable, it can be ten related items or ten of the most random things ever caught on celluloid.

THE TEN

can be whatever the contributors of DVDactive want to put out there and hopefully you’ll like what we have to share... whatever it might be.

But where to begin? Well, with the tenth anniversary of Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace on the horizon, a look at some of its highlights seemed a great place to start. After all, every saga has a beginning…

Seriously, has there ever been a teaser trailer quite as good as the one for Episode I? Has there even been one better than the theatrical trailer? In the build up to The Phantom Menace, these two trailers as well as the equally epic Tone Poem TV spots were literally like something from a Galaxy Far, Far Away, promising to bring something special to our big screens. A true event that built a mass excitement that hasn’t been equalled since.

I must have watched these trailers at least a hundred times. They absolutely capture the right level of excitement and are just pure Star Wars magic. Every line is a classic: ‘Loss of communication can mean only one thing... Invasion!’, ‘I sense much fear in you’, ‘You believe it’s this... boy?’, every frame was like something no other movie could offer at the time and frankly both of these trailers should be considered the way to do trailers the exact right way.

Now, I’m not a Menace basher, so don’t mistake this selection as a pop at Episode I only being good for forty five minutes. These forty five minutes are featured for the sheer amount of Lucas crammed into the roller coaster ride of an extended introduction to the new prequel era of Star Wars and the speed it flies by at.

In three quarters of an hour, Lucas throws out a ludicrous amount of Star Wars action. We’re in space, we meet our first couple of proper Jedis, one of whom is a younger Obi-Wan Kenobi. We are introduced to our first batch of aliens, the Neimoidians, we see a Sith Master, we get a battle droid scrap with some Droidekas as a side order. We get to see two skilled Jedi. Seriously that alone is still loads to take in for any Star Wars fan and the stuff Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan do with their sabers in the first battle are still some of the coolest Jedi moments ever.

It doesn’t stop there though. We meet a Queen (the future Mama Skywalker), our Jedis stow aboard an invading ship and visit our first new planet, Naboo. We see a seemingly good guy version of Palpatine, there’s an invasion army, we meet Jar Jar Binks (‘Meesa called Jar Jar Binks’), who despite a few motion issues still holds up as some incredibly impressive CGI work from ILM. Then we get our first breather, a little trip under water to Oota Gunga to meet the Gungans and Boss Nass (‘Weesa no like tha Naboo’), but before we can get too comfortable we’re off again in a Bongo avoiding giant fish and Godzilla sized monsters. ‘There’s always a bigger fish’.

Reaching our next location, Theed, our Jedi, along with their new Gungan friend, save the Queen and her entourage. ‘Yous guys are bom-bad’. Once again there are some awesome saber skills. Then we get a faceoff with some battle driods (‘I’ll handle this’) with even more of that sweet saber action and we’re back off into space in a shiny royal starship, where we meet an old friend, R2-D2, for the first time, who goes outside the ship, saves all aboard and sees us on our way—and all that’s over simplifying these opening events. At the time, having this as the first forty five minutes of new Star Wars in sixteen years was one hell of a way of throwing us all back in to the deep end of universe we love.

Now I’m not saying this is the best forty five minutes in movie history, hell I’m not even saying it’s the best forty five minutes of a Star Wars movie, but it’s a hell of a way to introduce you to the Star Wars galaxy and every time I see it, it still blows me away.

Taking a few steps back and going for a slightly more personal selection. The Jedi master Qui Gon Jinn pulls a lightsaber move at (40:39) that has always struck me as ludicrously cool.

After entering into a little skirmish with a handful of battle droids, Qui Gon slashes a Battle Droid in half and with one fluid motion turns his saber off and slides it onto his belt then without blinking, casually lifts his arm and uses the force on two more approaching droids. It’s the tiniest of moments in the grand scheme of things but it’s one of those things I've always adored in the Phantom Menace and just had to be included in this article.

Turning the action up to eleven, what would a listing of Phantom Menace highlights be without the Podrace. Lucas gets bashed for everything he ever does post Empire Strikes Back but there’s no denying that he can do this sort of stuff in his sleep better than most directors can do on a keg of Redbull.

Everything about this set piece is awesome. The designs of the pods, the aliens piloting them, the course itself, with its jumps, its bumps and its nasty canyons. You get the nice touches with the Tuskens, the whiz by with the Jawas and the sound mix on a good 5.1 system has always been jaw dropping (bring on the HD mix Mr. Lucas).

The Podrace is genuinely a classic Star Wars event and it’s great from the first Jabba spit, through ‘diddi crash it?’ right up to the ‘crowds are going nuts’ Skywalker win. That kid really must have Jedi powers.

‘How feel you?’ Getting to the meat and potatoes of this first chapter in the bigger Star Wars story, we come to the scene that starts the dark side ball rolling.

Anakin being testing by the Jedi Council is handled with just the right amount of Star Wars drama. I love the look and lighting of this scene, the orange of the sunset adding a warm glow to the important moment, despite playing off of the coldness of the Jedis' attitude. I love Anakin’s little ‘What’s that got to do with anything?’ pop at Yoda when being asked if he misses his mother but Yoda breaking into the speech ‘Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering’ is classic Star Wars stuff and made all the better that it echoes Vader’s speech to Luke in The Empire Strikes Back.

Generally I don’t much like the Jedi Council scenes in Episode I, but this scene stands out enough to warrant a mention. If only the dialogue wasn’t delivered by such a rubbish looking Yoda puppet (which thankfully should be changed to CGI the next time we get a proper Phantom Menace re-release).

I’m a sucker for movie homages and in-jokes and The Phantom Menace if full of ‘em. Of course there’s the Lucas re-cycling of dialogue ‘I’ve got a bad feeling about this’ etc and there’s the joy of spotting vehicles and faces from the Original Trilogy but Lucas threw another batch of items for us to have fun with—the Easter Eggs. From the expected 1138 reference (on the back of a droid) through the (and I'm yet to be convinced) Indiana Jones watching the pod race to the slightly less obvious but still brilliant ‘It’s working... It’s working’ E.T Anakin dialogue, there’s loads. Some of which I’ve included here:

No matter how much bad press Menace gets, there’s one thing that we can all agree on. DARTH MAUL IS A LEGEND. He literally owns every scene he’s in just by standing there and when the Sith apprentice does move we just sit back in awe. Bad has never been this damn cool.

Stand out moments for me begin with his first appearance as a hologram (‘Not for a Sith’). That badass stare, those folded arms, you know this character is going to be special. Following that you get the only Maul dialogue scene and then his arrival on Tatooine in one of the top three best ships in the Star Wars Universe, the Sith Infiltrator. Him stepping out of that red interior is great, but still not as great as slightly later on when he drives off on his speeder which is just brilliant. The way he disappears out of sight off the ledge is effortlessly cool and just as you have enough time to think ‘What?’, he re-appears, dust cloud behind him travelling off like the smoothest biker ever.

But then of course there’s the obvious one. Maul just standing behind the slide doors as the Duel of Fates kicks—it's still every bit as exciting as it was the first time. Off goes the hood and then comes the saber ignition and of course the always great second blade. I’ll go into the actual Jedi/Sith three-way a little later on, but Maul behind the energy barriers looking at Qui-Gon like a caged animal ready to fight, Maul blocking Qui-Gon’s attack as captured in the screen caps as well as stabbing Qui-Gon and turning to fight Obi-Wan before his fallen master has even hit the ground is just the red and black sugar sprinklings on an already perfect cake.

Okay, here is where I lose a batch of you (if I haven’t already). I don’t and never have had a problem with Jar Jar Binks. I will admit out of the handful of cuts I’d make to Menace the Binks is involved in a few (the lake dive being the biggest eye roller of the lot) but generally I like Binks’ involvement in this first adventure.

Firstly I have a lot of affection for some of his throw away lines ‘Weesa go under water now okiday’, ‘Diddie crash it?’ and ‘Weesa going hooooome’ are great and his ‘Steady, Steady’ to the Gungan army behind him is genuinely a moment I love. Okay, so there’s a few too many ‘How Wude’’s and maybe the constant tomfoolery in the closing Battle of Naboo is a little overcooked, but I don’t take this personally. He’s generally no more annoying than C3-PO was in the prequels and I for one feel that there could have been a lot more growth in the Jar Jar character if the hate hadn’t become such a big deal so early on. Don't get me wrong, Jar Jar isn't my favourite thing about Menace, not by a long chalk, but it just wouldn't be the same without him for me, despite the many claims to the contrary.

‘We'll handle this.’ Two Jedi vs. a Sith. That’s the way to end a Star Wars movie. I remember the first time seeing this on the big screen and just grinning like a school kid at the many, many elements that took Star Wars lightsaber action and put it in the hands of fully fledged masters.

First off, it’s the sheer speed of it all. The lightning fast moments between moments that makes the entire event so memorable. Not only do you have lightsabers cuttings through the air like never before, you have Maul force throwing things to open doors, Obi-Wan doing jedi jumps or Qui-Gon delivering Jedi back hand punches to knock back a skilled Sith.

The energy and sheer thrills just continue to grow as the battle progresses. After Maul drops Qui-Gon, the excitement builds as we wait eagerly for that energy barrier to drop so Obi-Wan can take on Maul. If the speed so far wasn’t impressive enough the saber battle takes another jump in pace and the duel between these two is still as mind blowing ten years on as it was the first time I saw it back in '99. The sabers fly at almost untraceable speeds, there are back flips and a saber getting cut in half and it just raised the bar on everything we’d come to expect from the Star Wars lightsaber battle. It’s just Star Wars at its most exciting.

Of course it’s not just what we’re seeing. The Duel of Fates score pushes it all further into classic territory with the choir and the instruments making this all the more epic and even though I miss the to and fro of dialogue in the Original Trilogy’s lightsaber duels, what do these guys really have to talk about anyway?

The last shout out is for those lesser spoken about elements of Episode I; those faces in the crowd and those little moments that just don’t get enough love. So here goes.

The Neimoidian with his eyes and mouth sealed up, TC-14, ‘I’ve got a bad feeling about this’, Driodekas, Padawan braids, Qui Gon’s saber going through a door, Sio Bibble, Jar Jar’s ear flip on Tatooine, Watto ‘Letame take you out back’, ‘Little bitty accidenty’, Captain Tarpals ‘Here taken dissen one’, Lott Dodd, those little droids that walk past the background while the Neimoidians talk to Sidious, all the astromech droids that were lost trying to repair the hyper drive, Ben Quadrinaros, Pit Droids, the little critter Jabba flicks off the balcony, Sebulba ‘Poodoo’, Watto again, Maul’s Probe Droids, Maul’s Speeder, C-3PO, Shmi, Watto again, the second pod race lap, Yaddle (man she's weird), the Wookies that cheer in the senate, Yarael Poof, Ki-Adi-Mundi, Plo Koon, Palpatine’s little Mr. Bean-esq tongue poking out after he tells little Anakin he’s be watching his career closely and after he tells Padme he’s been voted in, the tubby Gungan, Panaka shooting out the window, the Gungans coming out of the mist, the unloading of the Battle Droids, the Gungan who gets blasted to atoms saving Jar Jar, Padme’s little slip after telling Nute Gunray his occupation has ended and the Vader breaths at the end of the credits. You all played your part and I salute you.

So there we have it. A celebratory look at probably the most debated Star Wars movie out of the bunch. Personally, I love it more now than I did ten years ago and I was big fan then. It’s not perfect, it’s not the best of the saga and it’s got its fair share of problems but taking this wander around ten years on, I miss the excitement that it brought and the enjoyment I’ve had with the many re-watches and debates over its impact since.

Happy Birthday Phantom Menace and may Lucas grace us with a Blu-ray edition soon.

Advertisements

Comments

Reply

Message

Enter the message here then press submit. The username, password and message are required. Please make the message constructive, you are fully responsible for the legality of anything you contribute. Terms & conditions apply.

Far too much credit given just because it's a Star Wars film me thinks. Never said Obi-Wan was boring, Ewan Mcgregors performance is quite embarrassing though, Kenneth branagh would have lent the role more gravitas and yes Qui-Gon was boring in fact the whole movie was. Something a Star Wars film should never be.

M@tt, the pod race is one of the greatest racing scenes in cinema of the past ten years, is really wonderful. Granted, the kid wasn't that good, but let's be realistic, Anakin (the character) is lame, Darth Vader is the cool guy...

About the plot, yes, it's very 'politics' type of...and characters? Don't tell me Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan are boring, specially Qui-Gon...and you didn't even mentioned Darth Maul...give the movie a break, it deserves it, specially if you are a SW fan...

Saw the originals back in the 70s so was looking forward to a great night out to see a Star Wars movie. But it really was awful, waiting all that time for a half-arsed stab at something resembling a plot. No characters to speak of, no thrilling escapism, rousing score. Strangely it looks like animation at times. What a shame. Doesn't even attempt to be consistant with the originals. You'd think that with all the books and comics out there and all the things that were hinted at in the originals Lucas could have put something interesting together.

Annoying kid,a pod race that looks like a video game and childish aliens do not make for a good Star Wars film. Shameful waste but it makes you realize that maybe a film becomes a classic because it came along at the right time and Lucas just couldn't recreate the magic of Star Wars.

I've been into SW since I first saw the original at age 11. There's something funny about watching Episode 4: EVERY time I've seen it since makes me feel like I was back in that theater on viewing #1 in 1977. However, neither Empire nor Jedi have that effect on me (and I love 'em both).

Which bring us to Phantom Menace. In the many times I've re-watched this since, EVERY time it brings me back nostalgically to 1999 and how the whole moviegoing world was pumped for this movie. I like AOTC and Sith just fine (I'm a SW fan - give me the good and the bad - it beats most anything else out there), but seeing them over and over doesn't take me back to the specific year like both ANH and PM can.

So, terrific write-up, Marcus. It captured my enjoyment of the film perfectly. Thanks.

I saw this movie with my brother and two cousins...and I don't remember it being disappointing; however, we did ask LOTS of questions, like, who is the bad guy? Or who is this or what is that? But, you have to consider that we were young and hadn't really seen Star Wars before...(my revelation came in summer 2001, or 2002, with the special editions).

Back to the TDK thing, sorry to break it to you, but the hype of Ledger's death was one of the main reasons the movie was so successful...truth, because people wanted another Batman movie after Begins, but it wasn't like they had expected 17 years to get it...

I'm also glad to hear I'm not alone in liking TPM!! It's not a bad movie, it just suffers from bad pacing and a weak plot, but really, the podrace is amazing! Specially if you have a 5.1 setup, it sounds GREAT. Plus, we get the backstory of the whole Senate/government thing without it being too complicated, we get a new Sith Lord, GREAT lightsaber battles and...Star Wars!!

I'm really hoping for this on blu, specially for a new transfer...great article!

My first time seeing the Phantom Menace was opening morning. I remember preordering the tickets weeks in advance with my father the night we saw Entrapment, and holding onto those tickets with eager anticipation. The morning of the movie, my friends, my brothers, my father and I all skipped school/work and we saw the movie the first showing. It did not, and continues to not, disappoint. (That's the job of Attack of the Clones.)

Sure, Jar Jar got to be a little annoying and Anakin was...well, he was a kid; but all the foreshadowing was awesome. This was the last time the Prequel Trilogy had all the promise in the world. All the unanswered questions we thought we were going to get answers to, all the action moments we hoped would be topped in future installments, and of course what was supposed to be the most crushing love story ever. There was a lot of promise after that movie, and it's just a shame only so much of it was fulfilled.

Here's to the rest of you who wanted to see Qui Gonn explain force ghosting, have Darth Maul's tattoos explained, and see an even darker version of Episode III. All as Lucas had promised.

Lucas really didn't do much at all for the 30th Anniversary did he. All the rumours of ultimate boxsets and 3D re-releases all sort of amounted to nothing outside of a few re-releases and a re-hashed toy line.

Great article. It's refreshing to read an article about Star Wars, without it being bashed!

For me, the teaser one-sheet would definately make it to the top ten list. Looking at that poster of Darth Vader in the shadow was just amazing.

I liked Episode 1 the best of the lot, but it really isn't saying much. Episode 2 was just one long wait till the final battle and for me Episode 3 just didn't hold the second time I saw it. It really looked like the best of the lot, but when I watched it a second time, I just didn't like it one bit. Episode 1 is a comfort in that way, for most of the stuff that you have listed.

I haven't bought any of the prequel DVDs, mainly because of the rumor that was circulating of the mega set in 2007 for the 30th anniversary of Star Wars. That didn't happen because of the huge farce that was the release of the unaltered OT ("state of the art, as of 1992"). Since then, i haven't had the urge to buy them. Maybe if there is a Blu-ray release, I would think about it again.

The build up to most big movies, whether it be Batman, Matrix or what not are all very exciting. (Hell The Dark Knight was an agonising wait for the last few months) but the Return of Star Wars was a whole other league. As 4thGenSupra said, it totally took over for a couple of months. All the big hitters had tie in deals, so you literally couldn't avoid it. Every port of media latched onto it and not just for premieres or one off specials, literally whole weeks dedicated to it. It started the big hype around going to the movies JUST to see the trailer, it had the queues popping up ridiculously (but awesomely) early. This was a massive deal that pretty much covered the entire base of cinema go-ers.

This just wasn't like any other cinematic event up to that point and as The Wilsons said "The world will never see hype or anticipation on quite such a scale than it saw 10 years ago." even if movie studios want us to think it's happening every week between May - August.

That was a great article! I always think about Ep I. I saw it when I was 11 years old and I actually tried out for the part of Anakin! Too bad I didn't get it. Anyways, I LOVE this film as it has had such an influence on me. Marcus is right, the hype for that movie was unheard of! One could not drive down the road without seeing an advertisement for it. I remember Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, and other establishments just advertised the heck outta that film. So nostalgic, thank you so much for posting this. I love to hear people talk about this film who do not hate it. It is the film everyone loves to hate; they are mostly just a bunch of sheep to me.

Marcus1138 wrote: RThomas wrote: Wilson Bros wrote: The world will never see hype or anticipation on quite such a scale than it saw 10 years ago. It certainly seems far, far away these days.

The Dark Knight, anyone?

Not even close.

I'm not so sure. It's mostly a group thing. If you belong to a community of fans or if you have other friends that are also into Star Wars, you'll get tons of hype and anticipation. Other groups got as much activity when a new Harry Potter book is released, for instance, but they're not from your (and presumably our) generation and they have other forms to express themselves (the Internet forums weren't that important a decade ago). And you still get thousands of people in line the day a new iPhone is released. But, as you might not mix with these groups, you don't see it.

If we take the big hits from the last decade, belonging to a franchise with some mystique (ie not Pirates of Carribbean), you have Star Wars, The Matrix, Lord of the Rings that had the audiences packed when a new entry was released. LOTR was a book adaptation in three continuous episodes, so the fans knew what to expect. The Matrix had lots of frenzy before the first sequel. But it couldn't survive the level of abjection The Matrix Reloaded was.

For Star Wars, you have all the fans of the OT that were legitimately anxious, after 15 years, to know what the episodes I-III would be actually. But I don't believe there were many people who discovered SW with The Phantom Menace and who would start a cult devoted to the new episodes instead of the originals. TPM is Star Wars for Lucas lovers, it has all the elements of his original vision on the screen without any filter. Problem is that the older movies had him being obliged to defend and expand his vision because the studio or his partners weren't always convinced. He had to build a story, develop some characters and articulate what he had in mind. And, in the process, the movies were better. You still can find most of Lucas' strengths in episode I but, as the other prequels, they're made by a guy who has nothing to prove and just wants to give. But I find it problematic as the movie has so many characters who compete for the lead and no center. Episodes II and III are more satisfying on this aspect but they have flaws of their own.

So, to go back to our hyped and anticipated franchise, The Dark Knight was also really anticipated, much more than the previous episode was or even more than a Spider-Man movie. It broke many records, theaters were packed, activity on many film forums broke records and for weeks it was not just the movie you had to see, it was the movie you wanted to see. If a third Batman is made by the same team, I doubt you'll get the same hype, because it took for this entry an element hard to reproduce, Heath Ledger's performance.

Anyway, we can agree that there was more expectation for the prequels than for the latest Indiana Jones...

I just think that it's ashame that the Clone Wars CG animated series is better than all of the PT movies put together. And I mean that in a good way. I love the Clone Wars series.

If I were to make the PT I would have shortened the introduction of Anakin in Ep. I and even perhaps started him out as a teen-ager, rather than a 10 year old. Then went on to the Kamino Clone storyline, and started the Clone Wars at the end of the Ep. I, then dedicate the entire Ep. II for the Clone Wars, then do Ep. III as pretty much as it was.

It's nice to see that the passage of time has served to soften the harshness directed at good 'ol Episode I. It will never be hailed as a masterpiece and certainly has flaws aplenty but it's just loaded with so many FUN moments which make it difficult to dismiss it entirely.

I have to agree with virtually every word in Marcus' article, especially loving it more now than when I first saw it. Being able to look at it now with an entire decade buffering my own personal expectations and fanboy hype/hate I can certainly be more objective about it now. And I'm happy to find that my appreciation for it hasn't dulled in those ten years.

JJB annoying? yes but by no means a deal-breaker for me. Lloyd's "acting"? The far stronger strike against the film for me (especially knowing that Lucas passed up Haley Joel Osment for Lloyd) but again, not the cardinal sin most fans make him out to be.

I just watched Episode I again a couple weeks ago for the first time in a year and found it as fun as the day I first saw it in the theater.

Great, great article. It amazes me that in the ten years since TPM we've had The Matrix and its sequels, The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Spiderman, Pirates of the Carribean and all their sequels. Nobody really talks about them anymore and yet they're STILL complaining about Episode 1!! I've always loved it and been annoyed how people only focus on Jar Jar, Jake Lloyd and cgi. The Star Wars saga is all about the small details and finally somebody has acknowledged and embraced the huge amount that are in Phantom Menace. It's been a long wait. Nice one.

The decision of whether to show a kid I-VI or IV-III is a tough one. Seeing it the old way has that great "now find out how it happened" quality that we all had and obviously the "I am your father" twist is awesome but countering that, a newcomer following Anakin's story and having this good guy turn evil for the second half of the run has to be pretty amazing.

I too remember that night vividly. I had bought the ticket 2 weeks prior, taken the next day off, it being a midnight showing. My wife gave me c**p because our oldest son was born 3 weeks prior, but as I told her, "been planning this for a long time!" LOL. I arrived to the movie theater 4 hours in advance to get a decent place in line, only to get there and see no line at all outside! I knew something was up, parked, went inside to find all six theaters almost packed, 4 hours before showtime!! I came alone, so it was easy to find a seat, but had to hold onto it until the movie started, which may sound easy, but with all of the fans pouring in and looking for someplace to sit down, was very hard. I enjoyed the movie, but disliked JJB too, sorry! My oldest son recently turned 10, and is a Star Wars fan through and through! I actually did the exact opposite of most parents, I let him see episodes I-III first, then introduced him to the orignally trilogy! It was so much fun seeing things through his eyes, and asking questions about every detail. I realized that even though I am a fan, I never really enjoyed it as much as experiencing it with him

JJB annoyed me a bit, but other than that I enjoy Episode I -- Ewan McGregor and Liam Neeson were a perfect pair as Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan. The kid who played Anakin wasn't nearly as offensive as Hayden Christansen was in the following two movies (yes, he was wooden in Episode III but plain awful in Episode II).

I'm pretty surprised at how vitrolic some of the die-hard fans are about this movie. JJB wasn't THAT bad, just annoying. And it has that GREAT lightsaber duel between Maul, Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan that really makes Episode I -- so exciting.

Stunning article, Marcus. I've always liked Episode 1, it's Attack Of The Clones that I hate. Such a plodding load of old twaddle. Old Binksy has also never bothered me, I found him to be a funny chap in places. It's the shoehorning in of,(and terrible gags involving),those two bloody droids that irked me in the prequels.

The sequence is b****red up by Lucas seemingly wanting Threepio to have a c**ppy quip every time he appears on-screen - this idiocy continues into the area sequence - need we mention the "this is such a drag" line...?

Attack of the Clones is probably the weakest movie in the series, as pretty much sod all of significence happens during the thing. OK, so Jar-Jar is the fall-guy who effectively hands over power to Papatine; Anakin's mother croaks, sliding him further to the Dark Side & the Clone War begins, but apart from that, it just feels like it's marking time until the third part (which contained FAR too much story to squeeze into one film.)

Marcus1138 wrote: I actually think Maul is so good because we get so little of him. Anymore and he would have started to get more dialogue and who knows what else....

You may recall that Darth Maul had more dialogue originally, roughly about twice the amount he ended up with in the final cut. We would have prefered to have seen him have a little more to say, but the silent, mysterious Sith Lord seemed to work.

Speaking of which, C3-P0 originally had about half the amount of dialogue, but Lucas obviously realised that audiences would want more of him, so he tried to crowbar as much extra dialgue for Anthony Daniels as he could - this probably formed the basis for Episode II's horrible every-shot-a-quip-for-Threepio thing.

As terrible as ths flick is, TPM turned out to be the best of Lucas' three prequels. Despite being hampered with Binks, there's no fireplace awkwardness that I wish I could just wish away, there's no, no, no ham-fisted gurning from the emperor and there's certainly noooooooooooooo anorexic Vader tottering around in high-heels....and it has Darth Maul.

flicster wrote: The pod race is cool, yes, but the announcer (Greg Proops) has always totally annoyed the heck out of me. I just want him to shut up. Even his cartoony creature design bugs me. It totally takes me out of the excitement of the scene every time I see/hear him and, in my opinion, weighs the movie down into cheesy, kiddie-movie territory.

Not to get off topic (but here I go), this character made me feel the same way as the news reporters in the finale battle scene in Spider-man 3. Like do we seriously need someone narrating what we're seeing?! Yes, I get it in the context of the scene, but they both still kill the scenes that they're annoying narrating for us. Wow ... this opened a sore I never knew I had!

I wonder if SEs of the prequels will be released so that the stories tie up better with the original trilogy (instead of doing it the other way around, like the awful spirit ending at ROTJ on DVD). Probably looking back at them it's Episode 3 that I think is the weakest (simply because it's the film that should have tied everything up, explained it, but decided that Darth Vader actually turned to the dark side because he was in love, not because he wanted power. The first two had problems but you thought "don't worry it'll be fixed in 3" but wasn't).

The pod race is cool, yes, but the announcer (Greg Proops) has always totally annoyed the heck out of me. I just want him to shut up. Even his cartoony creature design bugs me. It totally takes me out of the excitement of the scene every time I see/hear him and, in my opinion, weighs the movie down into cheesy, kiddie-movie territory.

Bradavon wrote: It's such a shame Maul was killed off. He's one of the best Star Wars baddies, so underused.

I actually think Maul is so good because we get so little of him. Anymore and he would have started to get more dialogue and who knows what else. Plus Dooku was a great and interesting replacement for Episode II.

As for not mentioning Jake Lloyd. He was never gonna be on anyones 'best things about the Phantom Menace' list but in his defence, I actually like that Lucas gave us Anakin so young and let him just be a kid. It's just a shame the kid had some dialogue delivery issues along the way and his 'kidness' didn't quite work in the Naboo Starfighter stuff at the end

I remember seeing Phantom Menace 1 day after release. I could swear that we'd have not have gotten seats so easily, especially on opening week, but there it was. We had actually gone to see another movie about 1 weekend or 2 before, and they were having the pre-sales. So we figured we'd go ahead and nab them. As you could have guessed, opening day was completely sold out, but the next day wasn't so we nabbed them. My expectations were fulfilled, and I'm happy to say that the entire prequel trilogy rocked for me.

I was dying to see this film when it came out. My dad got me interested in the originals at age 6 or 7. For 3 Friday nights in a row he pulled out the next film and showed them to me. I loved them! I asked my best friends (who at the time we all in the same big family) if they'd seen Star Wars. A couple had once but didn't remember them well. I convinced them to pressure their parents. They did, and saw them again and by the time 1999 rolled around they were all hooked, ready for "Episode I". One of the girls in particular, named Angel, got really into Star Wars.

In junior year of high school I met a gal named Sara who was a year ahead of me. We shared a class. She had a Star Wars pencil holder and was getting really excited to Episode III which was opening that May. She told me that she had never heard of Star Wars before her dad took her to "Phantom Menace". She walked out saying 'I wish there were more films and he said, 'There are!'. She got hooked on all the books, games and films after that. Then of all the people in the state, especially since my friends above didn't go to the same school, I spotted a picture of Angel in Sara's locker! Turns out they've known each other as long as I've known the family and were best friends like I am with Angel's brother. Small world. Actually I saw 'Episode I' with Anthony, and our dads.

I remember seeing the teaser for The Phantom Menace when I went to see Star TreK: Insurrection, ironically enough. I didn't want to see Star Trek anymore. Truthfully, I really love the Prequel movies, despite their numerous problems. I still watch The Phantom Menace periodically.

Wow, I just watched this movie again last night and I get on to read this article. I enjoyed the movie thoroughly. However, Jar Jar was a frickin' douche, and that was bad. Jake Lloyd, who somehow isn't mentioned in the article, is one terrible actor. I cringe with every word he says.

I still enjoy Phantom Menace, maybe more so than when I saw it back in 99. As Marcus has already pointed out it contains some fantastic set pieces. It isn't my favourite Episode and JJB does grate a tad (though I don't deplore him as others do) but I think its a great entry in the Star Wars saga.

Bradavon wroteQuote: It's such a shame Maul was killed off. He's one of the best Star Wars baddies, so underused Couldn't agree more with you Brad, such a great villian its a pity he didn't feature more through EP I-III. Can't wait to trade in my dvds for some new BDs, hopefully with some more new stuff as Daz said.

I have to agree about the trailers. The Phantom Menace ad campaign was the best ever, and has set the bar very high. The posters are fantastic too.

When I first saw the teaser and trailer, I really thought I was about to witness the greatest movie ever made. I hate to say it, but what a bemusing and crushing disappointment it ultimately turned out to be.

Jar Jar Binks was a huge miscalculation by Lucas, which failed miserably. It's no coincidence he virtually disappeared from Episodes 2 and 3. Lucas is well aware that the character is universally despised.

I actually hope Lucas does tweak the Prequels before their eventual Blu-ray release, especially Episode 1. He might actually improve them. A CG Yoda, less Binks and as much Darth Maul footage he can put back in, would be a good start.

Technically the first time I saw any of it was in the background on VHS at a friend's house, although I wasn't paying attention because the quality was s**t and I didn't want it spoiled. I saw it on opening night at my local cinema and it wasn't even half full. My arse didn't bleed or owt, but JJB annoyed the cock off of me.

We saw Star Wars when it first opened in the UK when we were 5, and it made a big impression. After months of hype for Episode 1 (one of us hasn't uttered the title of the movie for almost 11 years, being so annoyed that Lucas rubs the Flash Gordon origins in fans' faces) that we were really p*ssed off that the Uk had to wait another couple of months for it to be released.

For that reason - and that we hadn't had a holiday in a while - we flew across the Atlantic and saw it in its' opening week. Once we came out, we really didn't know what to think, as though a devout Christian had just witnessed the second coming, only to find ol' JC dressed in a track-suit munching a McDonalds' burger.

Our brother was very interested to hear what we thought after we got out, and we called him across the Atlantic - all we remember from the conversation were multiple uses of the words: "It was just...there...".

On the plus-side, it introduced us the the delights of the mechanically-precessed delight that is Polish sausage, so it wasn't all bad.

Due to Lucas losing a bundle to piracy on Episode 1, he changed to worldwide (or near enough) release dates, meaning we didn't travel quite as far to watch Episode II, but was even more disappointed with the weakest of the entire saga.

The world will never see hype or anticipation on quite such a scale than it saw 10 years ago. It certainly seems far, far away these days.